EJ Insight » Hong KongYesterday, 17:54
A scene from Self-Immolator, one of the five shorts in Ten Years. How will Hong Kong be in the next 10 years? It depends on everyone's decision. Photo: www.hkaff.asia
The 104-minute-long production consists of five shorts by Hong Kong’s newly emerged filmmakers.
Many are surprised it has played to a full house in almost every show.
It was initially screened at the Broadway Cinematheque in Yau Ma Tei from mid-December, but to cope with the keen demand, the movie also hit UA cinema screens from Dec. 31.
That it turned into a blockbuster is not without a good reason.
The movie, though produced on a shoestring budget of only HK$600,000, is a well-constructed work with five episodes that explore the theme of Hong Kong’s future.
Viewers will realize that although some of the scenes may seem unfamiliar and others way too radical, the stories are always anchored on developments in the past and the present.
There’s always something in the movie that viewers can identify with, something believable and within the realm of the possible.
In Jevons Au’s Dialect, for example, a taxi driver played by Leung Kin-ping struggles to adjust after Putonghua displaces Cantonese as Hong Kong’s only official language.
In Ng Ka-leung’s Local Egg, a grocery shop owner portrayed by Liu Kai-chi worries about his son’s youth guard activities, which remind him of the Cultural Revolution, and where he should buy eggs after Hong Kong’s last chicken farm closes down.
Ng told Apple Daily in an interview that the future of Hong Kong as showcased by the film is depressing but not hopeless.
He is hoping that Hong Kong people could start reflecting on the present and looking into the future, as every individual decision no matter how big or small will matter.
(Cantonese and Putonghua with English subtitles)
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